Pokemon Black and White Trailer & Release Date!

First of all. the new trailer:

The latest installment of the Pokemon franchise was announced in Japan a while ago:

Err, maybe not like that..

The new game series is stated to be released on September 18, in Japan and as always, no targeted release date in North America and Europe. The release date in the US and Europe are around Spring 2011 for the Nintendo DS.

E3 Nintendo – Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

Golden Sun was one of the games of my childhood, featuring one of the strongest formulae of turn-based RPGs. The sequel, years later, featured a link between the first and second game, where the player can transfer his own trained Golden Sun team into the sequel. It was brilliant, and I screamed for more.

Last year at E3 2009, Nintendo presented a new Golden Sun title, most probably on the Nintendo DS. It was a massively positive peak of the presentation, and I had a big smile on my face. Finally!

This year Nintendo has a definite title for the upcoming game, Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. It will be on the DS and the stylus will play a big role for the gameplay.

Read more

Get a Pikachu coloured Pikachu over Nintendo Wifi

Hey buddy?! Did you miss the Gamestop event that gave out the special edition Pikachu coloured Pichu? Well here is your chance! Connect to Nintendo Wifi on Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum from March 5 ’till March 26 to receive this rare Pokemon.

But that’s not all! If you trade this Pichu to Pokemon HeartGold or SoulSilver, and travel to the Ilex Forest shrine. You will trigger an event that will allow you to capture a Spikey-Eared Pichu. The same one that was featured in the 12th Pokemon movie ‘Arceus and the Jewel of Life’.

All you have to do is to make sure your DS is connected to a Wireless hotspot, hit ‘Mystery Gift’ on the main menu of your Pokemon game, select Nintendo WFC, and enjoy your Pichu!

Note to all, this event is for EU and North America only.

New Nintendo DS ‘powered by Nvidia’

Sources claim Nvidia’s mobile-centric system-on-a-chip, Tegra, will power the next Nintendo handheld
Graphics chip giant Nvidia has won a highly lucrative contract that will see it provide technology for the next Nintendo handheld, inside sources claim. Anonymous sources said to be close to the matter insist that the new Nintendo handheld – apparently set to be revealed late in 2010 – will be powered by Nvidia’s system-on-a-chip device, known as Tegra.

Tegra is an ARM-based processor with integrated Geforce graphics, and has been developed by Nvidia for use in smartphones and other mobile devices such as Microsoft’s Zune HD. The rumoured Nintendo deal would add much weight to bold claims recently made by Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.

In June, Huang left analysts dumbfounded by declaring that Tegra will account for as much as 50 per cent of Nvidia’s revenues in the next few years.

Read more at Develop

Gamescom: BigBen takes casual gaming to a higher level

The casual gaming industry is getting larger and larger due to easy accessible platforms like Wii and NDS. BigBen gaming is a French publisher who works together with a lot of developers. In general they have 2 main projects; Making accessory for all platforms and making games.

The first is a big project. BigBen makes accessory for all platforms like DS-cases and controllers. New innovations are also being made. A good example is the power charger for wiimotes and ds, which don’t require you to remove the protection; kind of a wireless loader. Read more

Starfy Party at The Nintendo World Store

That is right. On July 11th from 1-3 PM, join Nintendo for a Giveaway, facepainting (I want Kirby), and have your picture taken with Starfy.

So, if anyone is in the New York City region, come down to the Nintendo World Store and party with Starfy!

TomRyuKen: Enter the handheld War

I’m at the train station, waiting for my train to Amsterdam to arrive. As usual I’m a bit early but I can manage waiting until the train (who doesn’t get to the station in time, obviously) finally arrives. It’s quiet inside; there are only a few people beside me and they all seem occupied. So what to do? Right. I reach into my pocket and from it I conjure up my trusty companion: a nifty little piece of sweet modern technology called a ‘handheld console’.

Put the cheesy intro aside; what really matters now is the future of the handhelds. We in Europe are about to be ‘invaded’ by two of its newest kin: the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable (That’s right, no more ‘Game Boy’, sadly, but just plain Nintendo DS. Shit happens). I trust every self-respecting gamer is informed about their upcoming presence by now, so I’ll save myself the effort of writing a cheesy introduction on the two handheld titans and their products. The Nintendo DS has been out in Japan and America for some time now, but in Europe we’re about to experience the craze as well. Up until now Nintendo has always been the king of handheld consoles. They introduced us to Game Boy, unmistakably the best known form of handheld gaming to mankind. And our trusty Game Boy evolved, and we got Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Colour and so on and now we’ve finally been introduced to the latest addition to the family. Well I can be overly enthusiastic about the Nintendo DS, but because I haven’t had much gaming experience with the thing myself and I actually like to gave the PSP a chance as well, I decide not to.

First of all, why is it that handheld gaming seems to appeal to the gaming masses so much? Of all the people I know that at least play some videogames, by far the most of them are in the possession of a handheld console (mainly one of Nintendo’s creations, naturally). No matter how superior the graphics on the prime consoles like the GameCube or PlayStation 2 are, no matter how much more possibilities the GC and PS2 games have, it seems far more people are actually into gaming on their handhelds. The logical explanation is as follows: many people like gaming when they have little else to do, for example when they’re waiting or travelling by train or bus. You can’t drag your television set and your dandy purple cube everywhere so the handhelds seem like the perfect solution; and they are. Especially the Game Boy Advance (SP), who is perfectly able to show graphical prowess of at least the same level (if not higher) as Nintendo’s best console ever, the SNES. And with games that are at least as enjoyable the Game Boy Advance seemed like a success formula, which it did turn out to be as well. I myself am but an average handheld gamer but even I acknowledge the astounding quality of the Game Boy Advance as one of the best there is. And it’s hard for the competition to ever create a piece of technology capable of doing what the GBA did or more. And if that wasn’t bad enough, now Nintendo’s showing up the Nintendo DS as well, a handheld that’s supposedly even better than the Game Boy Advance and has superior abilities compared to all its predecessors. In all those years of Nintendo’s reign over the handheld market, they had little to no competition; the GameGear wasn’t up to the challenge and who actually cares about the WonderSwan? But now Nintendo’s experiencing something (provided that they actually care) they’ve never seen before: one company is boldly joining the market and is virtually declaring war with Nintendo: Sony, with their PlayStation Portable.

Now the PlayStation Portable, from now on abbreviated to PSP, is actually more like the Game Boy Advance but I admit it has more power than the former. It is capable of performing games with PlayStation quality and that’s a pretty good thing for a mere handheld console. It’s design seems smooth and perfect and with games such as Metal Gear Solid with the precise same graphical quality and length as the original PlayStation title it looks like the PSP is going to take a strong position in the market. And because the PlayStation is one of the most popular consoles ever, many happy gamers are going to fall in love with the portable and it’s games. Pretty good so far, Sony.

But Nintendo wouldn’t be Nintendo (and actually a very moronic company overall) if they wouldn’t ‘strike back’ with a new handheld of their own. And that’s going to be the DS, or Dual Screen, the nice new handheld with which the Americans and the Japanese are enjoying their selves with as we speak while we Europeans have to wait that little bit longer. But when it arrives: will it be good?

It’s save to say Nintendo will deliver a quality product. However that does not automatically mean it’s on par with the PlayStation Portable. Luckily I’m always curious about things and seem to know the right people in the gaming circuit so I’ve had the honour of testing the thing already. Okay, Nintendo is being innovative again. They have 2 screens, and a nice button lay-out so in that aspect they are rivalling with the PSP perfectly. However I think the DS could’ve used a more artistic design as I find it pretty ugly; I like the original GBA better. But they had to implement two screens in some way so I guess they solved that pretty good. As for performance: I haven’t played any DS games but it you’re also capable of playing GBA games with it and that’s certainly a plus. It ensures that gamers can still buy GBA games and sees to it that they won’t just give up their GBA games. And it fits nicely in my hands; I have quite big hands so if I can perfectly operate it then probably the rest of the gaming community can as well. I don’t precisely know what the DS games will look like but the screens so far are promising: perfect quality, as expected. There is also the ability of customizing your DS and communicating with others but honestly that means nothing to me, I want it to perform outstanding gaming experience and nothing more. Those extras are nice but they won’t influence whether I’d buy it or not.

The outcome of this war isn’t even close to certain. Both of the handhelds have yet to arrive in Europe so anything can still happen. If I have to predict part of the outcome I’d say the PlayStation is probably going to do better in Europe because of all the crazed PS fans out there. I expect Nintendo to do perfectly fine too; if there’s one thing Nintendo can do it is selling handhelds ^_^

It is but the question of either Sony’s bold bravery or Nintendo’s supreme expertise will prevail. I only know that I’m probably going to be stuck with the DS. Once you’ve attached your gaming soul to Nintendo it sticks to that forever…